The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-03-23


dungeon in Bedfordshire, and Jehudi Ash |
man endured all the malarias OF the African !!
Jungle; and there are hundreds and thousands |
of Christian men and women now who are |
praying, toiling, preaching, living, dying, to |
save souls
No one care for your SOUL Have you
heard how Christ feels about it, / know 1t
was only five or six miles from Bethlehem to
Calvary, the birthplace and the deathplace of
Christ; but who can tell how many miles it
was from the throne to the mangerl How
many miles down, how many miles back
againi The place Of his departure was the
focus Of all splendor and pomp; all the
thrones facing his throne; h. name the
chorus in every song and the inscrip-
ton on every banner; his landing place
cattle pen, malodorous with unwashed brutes,
and dogs growing in and out Of the stable.
Born Of a weary mother who had journeyed
eighty miles in severe unhealth that she
might find the right place for the Lords ma
tivity-born, not as other princes, under the
fash Of chandelier, but under lantern
swung by rope to the roof of the barn. In
that place Christ started to save you. Your
name, your face, your time, your eternity,
in Christ's mind. Sometimes travelling on
mules back to escape old Herod's massacre,
sometimes attempting nervous sleep on the
chilly hillside, sometimes earning his break
fast by the carpentry of plow. In Quaran-
tania the stones Of the field, by their shape
and color, looking like the loaves of bread,
tantalizing his hunger. Yet all the time
keeping on after you. With drenched coat
treading the surf at Genessaret Howled after
by e bloodthirsty mob. Denounced as a
drunkard. Mourning over doomed city,
while others shouted at the sight of the SHIN
rnering towers All the time coming on and
coming on to save you. Indicted as being
traitor against government, perjured wit
nesses swearing their souls away to insure
his butchery. Flogged, spit on slapped in
the face and then hoisted rough lumber,
in the sight of earth, and heaven, and hell to
purchase your eternal emancipation From
the first infant step to the last step Of man
hood on the sharp spike Of Calvary journey
for you. Oh, how he cared for your soull
By dolorous arithmetic add up the stable, the
wintry tempest the midnight dampness, the
abstinence of forty days from food, the
brutal Sanhedrim, the heights Of Golgotha,
across which all the hatreds of earth and all
the furies Of hell charged with their bayonets,
and then dare to say again that no one cares
for your soul
A young man might as well 90 off from
| home and give his father and mother no in
| timation as TO where he has gone, and, cross
ing the seas, sitting down in some foreign
| country, cold, sick and hungry and lonely,
| saying: my father and mother don't care
| ANYTHING about me- Do not care anything
about himl Why, that fathers hair has
| turned gray since his went off. He has
written to all the consuls in the foreign ports,
asking about that son. Does not the mother
| care anything about him. He has broken her
heart. She has never smiled since he went
4 Il. Ill Il.
! she keeps asking: aWhere is he? Where can
he be?D He is the first thought in her prayer
and the last thought in her prayer, the first
thought in the morning and the last at night.
She says: "Oh, God, bring back my boy l
must see him again before ] die. Where is
| he? / must see him again before die Oh,
| do not his father and mother care for himl
| You go away from your Heavenly Father,
| and you think he does not care for
| you because you will not even read the letters
| by which he invites you to come back, while
all heaven is waiting, and waiting, and
| waiting for you to return. A young man
said to his father: al am going off; will
| write to you at the end of seven years and
| tell you where / am" Many years have
| passed along since that son went away, and
for years the father has been going to the
depot in the village on the arrival of every
distance he is thrilled with excitement, and
he waits until all the passengers have come
| out, and then he waits until the train has
| gone clear out of sight again, and then he
goes home, Fastening back to the next train;
| and he will be at every train until that son
| comes back, unless the son waits until the
father be dead. But oh, the greater patience
| of Godl He has been waiting for you, not seven
years, not nine years, but for some of you,
twenty years, thirty years, forty years, fifty
| years waiting, calling waiting, calling
until nothing but omnipotent patience could
have endured it, Oh, my brother, do not
take the sentiment of my text as your senti-
ment. We do care for your soul. One Sab
bath night, years ago, in my church in Brook
| lyn. young man appeared at the end of the
platform and he said to me: Il have inst come
off the sea-" | said: "When did you arrivelp
Said he: Il came into port this afternoon.
was in a great blow off Cape Hatteras this
last week, and l thought that l might as
well go to heaven as to hell.
| thought the ship would sink; but, sir,
never very seriously thought about
my soul until tonight" 1 said to him: "Do
| you feel that Christ is able and willing to
save your "Oh, yes" he replied, 81 do. a"
"Vell,p said, snow are you willing to come
and be saved by Himg' II am" he said.
"Well, will you now, in the prayer we are
about to offer, give yourself to God for time
and eternity?n Il will, !" he said Then we
knelt in prayer, and after we had got
through praying, he told me that the great
transformation had taken place. l could
not doubt it. He is on the sea now. 1 do
not know what other port he may gain or
lose, but think he will gain the harbor of
heaven.
Star of peace, beam DER the billow,
Bless the soul that signs for Thee:
Bless the sailors lonely pillow.
| Far, far at sea.
1t was sudden conversion with him that
night Oh, that it might be sudden CONVEX
sion with you to-day God can save you in
one moment as well as he can in a century.
There are sudden deaths, sudden calamities,
sudden losses Why not sudden deliverancesl
Gods spirit is infinite in speed. He comes
here with omnipotent power, and he is ready
here and now, instantaneously and forever,
to save your soul. l believe that a multitude
of you will to-day come to God. feel you
are coming, and you will bring along your
families and your friends with you.
They have heard in heaven already of
the step you about to take The
news has been cried along the golden streets
and has rung out from the towers, "A soul
saved A soul saved!n But there is some
one here to-day who will reject this gospel.
He will stay out of the kingdom of God him
self. He will keep his family and his friends
out 1t is dreadful thing for man just to
plant himself in the way of life, then keep
back his children, keep back his companion
in life, keep back his business partners-refuse
to go into heaven himself and refuse to let
others go in.
young man, at the close of religious
service, was asked to decide the matter of his
souls salvation. He said: Al viii not do it
tonight" Well, the Christian man kept
talking With him, and he said: II insist that
to might you either take God OF reject Him .
"Well, said the young man, "if you put it
that way, l will reject Him. There, now,
the matters settled" On his way home on
horseback he knew not that a tree had fallen
aslant the road, and he was going at full
speed, and he struck the obstacle and dropped
lifeless. That night his Christian mother
heard the riderless horse plunging about the
barn, and, mstrusting something terrible
was the matter, she went out and came to
the place where her son lay, and she cried
out: @Oh, Henry dead and not Christian.
Oh, my sonl my SOM dead and not Christ
ian. Oh, Henry Henry dead and not a
Christian God keep us from such a catas-
trophe.
PEOPLE WHO ARE KNOWN.
Il